The invention relates to improvements in quick-release connectors or couplings for pairs of pipes, hoses or other types of conduits. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in quick-release couplings of the type wherein a tubular male component has a rear portion which is insertable into or is otherwise connectable with one end portion of a first conduit, and a front portion receivable in the front part of a tubular female component having a rear part which is insertable into one end of or is otherwise connectable with a second conduit. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in quick-release couplings wherein the front part of the female component has resilient arms with internal male detents having radial shoulders which can engage a radial rear flank forming part of an annular external protuberance which is provided on the male component between its front and rear portions and further comprises a conical front flank serving to spread the arms apart during insertion of the front portion of the male component into the front part of the female component. The detents then slide over the cylindrical peripheral surface of the protuberance between the front and rear flanks until the resilient arms are free to move toward each other and cause the shoulders of the detents to engage the radial flank of the protuberance on the male component.
It is already known to provide the male component of a quick-release connector of the above outlined character with axially parallel external disengaging members which cross the protuberance and have conical lateral flanks capable of moving the detents apart in response to turning of one of the components relative to the other component and/or vice versa so that the front portion of the male component can be extracted from the front part of the female component as soon as the shoulders of the detents move radially outwardly beyond the radial flank of the protuberance on the male component. The external surfaces of the disengaging members are flush with the peripheral surface of the protuberance, and the mutual spacing of disengaging members in the circumferential direction of the male component is the same as the mutual spacing of arms in the circumferential direction of the female component.
A quick-release connector of the above outlined character with several disengaging members on the male component is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,085 granted Nov. 22, 1988 to Sauer et al. If the male component of the patented connector is not exactly coaxial with the female component (namely if the axis of one component is slightly inclined with reference to the axis of the other component) when the front portion of the male component is in the process of entering the front part of the female component in such orientation that each disengaging member is aligned with one of the arms, the internal detent of one of the arms is likely to reach the radially outermost portion of the aligned disengaging member before the detent or detents of the other arm or arms reach the radially outermost portion(s) of the respective disengaging member(s). This can lead an inexperienced or sloppy operator to the erroneous conclusion that the coupling operation has been completed whereas, actually, the detents merely overlie the aligned disengaging members but do not engage the radial rear flank of the protuberance. The two conduits can become disconnected from each other as soon as the pressure in one of the conduits rises because the pressurized fluid is likely to expel the front portion of the male component from the front part (including the resilient arms) of the female component.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,149 to Demler et al. discloses a vacuum or pressure coupling device wherein the male component carries two arcuate projections extending radially outwardly beyond the peripheral surface of the protuberance and serving to move the resilient arms of the front part of the female component away from each other in response to rotation of at least one of the components relative to the other component in either direction. A drawback of this coupling device is that the operator does not know for sure whether or not the two components are properly coupled to each other.